Ice Queen
by Whenever she is raging
Summary: It worked in her advantage that doctor Banner wasn't supposed to know that he was being watched. He probably did anyway. Doctor Banner wasn't stupid. If he was, she wouldn't be here. She needed his help, she needed answers. She would do anything for that. Even if that meant breaking into his house. Post-Avengers movie.
1. Prologue

Prologue

SHIELD agent Lorena Gilmore sighed and looked at her watch. _Again_, she had been watching doctor Banner's house for three hours, and she would have to watch it for another three hours. When they offered her a job at SHIELD she had been thrilled. She thought she finally got to do something useful, and help improve the world. Instead, she got to spy on the doctor. The spying stuff seemed fun, the first week. But she soon learned that it was the most boring job in the world. The most exciting thing that had happened in the three months she had worked at SHIELD, was capturing a spy of another agency. That was seven weeks ago.

She got up to get a cup of coffee. As soon as she turned her back on doctor Banner's house, a woman dressed in black used the opportunity to run towards the house without getting caught. She moved from tree to tree, using their shadows to be invisible to the SHIELD agents surrounding the house.

It worked in her advantage that doctor Banner wasn't supposed to know that he was being watched. He probably did anyway. Doctor Banner wasn't stupid. If he was, she wouldn't be here.

There were only three SHIELD agents near the house. She had done her research on all of them. She had stolen copies of their work schedules. She had stolen a map of the forest with all hidden cameras marked on it. She knew everything she should know to be able to get in the doctor's house.

After five minutes of running through the forest, taking the route she had planned and studied a hundred times, she swiftly climbed in one of the trees. She partially opened her black jacket to take the binoculars she wore around her neck. It was dark, but there was just enough moonlight for her to see agent Gilmore, who just walked back to her post with a cup of coffee, not aware of the woman in black watching her.

The woman stayed in the tree for more than an hour, before she silently climbed down and slowly moved towards the weeping willow, right next to the garden fence. She swiftly climbed the tree.

While the woman was slowly crawling on one of the branches that hung right above the garden, agent Gilmore sipped her coffee, still hoping for something interesting to happen.

**Hiya,**

**This is my first Avengers fanfic, I hope you like it. Review=preview  
Lots of love to my amazing beta DecemberLeNoir, she's the best.**

**xoxo**

**E**


	2. Intruder

Intruder

Bruce Banner had fallen asleep at his desk, his head resting on the files he had been reading. Tony had asked him for help on improving the arc reactor. Bruce knew his old friend was perfectly capable of improving it on his own, but had accepted to help him anyway. He would go to back to Stark tower the next day, grateful for being able to leave his own house.

Even though he never saw them, he knew SHIELD was monitoring everything he did. Part of him was glad they did so, because they caught other spies and criminals before he even saw them. But they mostly just annoyed him. The last time he had an incident was six months ago, and he wouldn't have had it if SHIELD had left him alone. He'd still be in India if they had left him alone. But then he also wouldn't have met the other Avengers. He had grown rather fond of them, as they had adapted into becoming friends, which was a big development, especially after Betty.

Meanwhile, the woman dressed in black had dropped herself out of the tree, landing in doctor Banner's backyard. She stayed flat on her stomach for a while, in case anyone had seen her, listening carefully. When she was sure nobody had seen or heard her, she crept towards the back door. This would be the hardest part. She was sure SHIELD was watching the front door, so she would pick the back door's lock. But there was still a chance of getting caught.

She knelt in front of the door, and started to pick the lock. It took her longer than she had expected. She felt her heartbeat speed up, but ignored it and continued to work on the lock. She would take a few minutes to calm down once she got inside.

"Don't move." A man told her in a calm voice, while pressing a metal object against her head.

She gasped and dropped the lock pick. She hadn't heard him coming. How had they seen her? Was there a camera near the door? _Crap._ She promised herself she would spend more time on research next time.

She had no reason to be afraid of weapons, but she obeyed the man anyway. She was sure he wasn't alone.

She closed her eyes and focused on staying calm. She would have to wait for the right moment to fight back. If she lost control now, some of them might be able to get away, or at least make enough noise for doctor Banner to wake up. She decided to wait until she could see all of them and knew who they were and what they wanted.

"Put your hands above your head."

The woman obeyed, allowing the agent to seize her wrists and handcuff her securely. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her around roughly, knocking the breath out of her. She gasped sharply, pupils dilated in anticipation.

There were three agents in front of her. They were wearing SHIELD uniforms, confirming what she had already expected. Either they hadn't recognized her yet, or they were just good actors.

Agent John Coleman looked down at the small person in front of him. She had shocking blue eyes, reminding him of the woman SHIELD had been trying to catch. And, wanting to be sure, agent Coleman pushed the woman's hood down, revealing her long black and purple hair.

_They had found her. _

Christine Anderson. The woman who had frozen everything within 100 feet when falling down the stairs that led to the city hall. He had seen the security videos. Someone had rushed past her, causing her to stumble and fall. And even before her head had hit the ground, everything and everyone had suddenly been covered in ice. She had been the only survivor.

Christine slowly got up, and looked at the agents in front of her. They didn't look scared at all. It made perfect sense. These people were trained to spy on doctor Banner, and make sure he wouldn't destroy the city when he lost control. These people were used to a giant green rage monster. Of course they weren't scared of her.

"Miss Anderson." Agent Coleman said, still holding the gun against her head.

"Good evening, agent." She replied, waiting for the right moment to attack.

"Good evening indeed," he said a small smile on his face. "Now please walk forward."

Christine did as she was told, the agents surrounding her like bodyguards. While walking, she prepared herself for the attack. She usually didn't freeze people on purpose, but this was different. She had to talk to doctor Banner. She had come so close, and had almost made it. There was no way she would give up this easily.

When they had reached the garden fence, she suddenly turned around and allowed the ice inside her to break free.

* * *

Bruce wasn't sure what had awaked him, his nightmare or the cold. Looking at his watch, he noticed that it was only 3am. He briefly considered going to bed and try to get more sleep, but decided against it. He'd rather study more of the material Tony had sent him.

He picked up his glasses, which had probably fallen off of his nose when he was asleep and started to read again.

He preferred to work with the windows open, for the fresh air, but this time the cold was distracting him and decided to give in and close them. It really was extraordinary cold for that time of the year.

He walked towards the window, briefly looking down at his garden before reaching for the handle to close it. It took him a second to realize something was wrong. _Very wrong. _He took off his glasses and looked out of the window again.

His garden was completely covered in ice. The trees, the chairs, everything. And there was just enough light for him to see three odd statues, standing near the frozen fence. Were those… people? _What was going on? _

He turned around, planning to examine those statues and, if necessary, help the people, but froze in place when he saw a woman, standing in front of the door. Black hair, parts of it dyed purple, and piercing icy blue eyes. She must've been the woman Tony had told him about. Every SHIELD agent knew about her. They had nicknamed her 'the Ice Queen'. And now she was standing in front of him.

"Good evening, doctor Banner."

**Thanks for reading  
Lots of love to DecemberLeNoir, my awesome beta.  
Review=preview**

**xoxo**

**E**


	3. Old habits die hard

Christine had wanted to start her little interrogation as soon as she was inside, but she needed to get rid of those handcuffs first. She would still be able to freeze things like this, unfortunately her ability to control would be diminished.

"Stay where you are." She told doctor Banner as she stepped back and smacked her arms against the door frame in an attempt to break the handcuffs. She hissed at the sharp pain from the blow but tried it again, knowing she would need to freeze the handcuffs to be able to remove them.

The temperature in the room dropped every time she hit the door frame.

Christine wished she could just drop her guard and allow the cold inside her to spread but she had to be careful. She didn't know how doctor Banner would react to being frozen, and wasn't willing to test it either.

Bruce watched her in surprise, unsure of what she was trying to do until he saw the strong handcuffs she wore. SHIELD quality, he noticed. So the frozen statues outside _were _agents. As much as he hated SHIELD, he hoped they would survive. He knew he wouldn't be able to help them himself, but he could at least try to distract Ice Queen long enough for SHIELD to send more agents to his house.

But for now, Ice Queen didn't need any distractions, as she was still trying to break the handcuffs. She suddenly looked up at him, her blue eyes brighter than ever, and then she disappeared behind a wall of ice.

Using the opportunity, Bruce grabbed the ridiculously modern phone Tony had given him. Not daring to call anyone because Ice Queen might hear him, he sent director Fury a short text.

* * *

Just when he had hit _"send", _the wall of ice that separated his room from the hall shattered.

Christine hadn't planned on blocking the doorway but she was grateful, and a little surprised that she hadn't frozen more. Maybe it did help herself control when she actually wanted the ice to appear.

Now that the handcuffs were frozen, she could easily break them. That was one of the few benefits of this curse: she could break ice and frozen objects just as easily as she could break cardboard.

She stayed outside the room a little longer than necessary, thinking of the questions she had to ask and giving doctor Banner some time to calm down. She didn't know much about the heart, but she hoped the cold would calm down the doctor's heart rate. From what she had read while hacking the SHIELD files, the Hulk's appearances were somehow related to the doctor's heart rate.

She briefly considered knocking or at least giving some kind of warning before she smashed the door of ice that separated her from doctor Banner.

Christine put up her hood again, feeling too exposed without it.

"I'm sorry for that," she said, gesturing at the frozen, broken door frame. "I couldn't think of another way to get rid of those stupid things."

He just stared at her without saying anything. Christine decided to take that as an encouragement to keep talking.

"I'm here because I need your help. I..." That was where he cut her off.

"You just broke into my house, ruined my door frame, possibly killed three SHIELD agents and you expect me to help you?" He made it sound like a rhetorical question. Of course she would answer it anyway, even if it would annoy him. Especially because it would annoy him. Old habits die hard.

"Actually, yes," she said with the merest hint of a smile. "You and me aren't all that different, doc. I'm also trying to avoid the people who want to use me for whatever stupid plan they came up with. People who'd like to lock me down in some lab to experiment on me. People like..." _what was his name again? Oh, who cares. _"General Whatshisname." He cringed a little at the mention of the man who had been trying to hunt him down for years. _Good._

"Trying to live a normal life. Trying to be who I was, who I am. Pretending to be normal, even though I never will be. Sounds familiar?" He opened his mouth to answer, but she wouldn't let him. Ranting, having boring monologues that was one of the few things she was actually good at.

She started walking towards his desk. "Hush, I wasn't finished." She picked up a cup of now cold tea. "Trying to be a good person, to prove the world wrong. We're not monsters."

Christine watched the cup in her hands, the liquid inside freezing because of her cold touch. "You've learned to control it. To avoid the things that attract the darker side of you."

Without a warning she threw the cup at him. He jumped away just in time, the cup and its frozen contents shattering against the wall.

"See? Nothing, and that's the kind of self control I'm desperately looking for. Care to share your secret, doc?"

Bruce took a few deep breaths to steady himself, and as he was about to answer, a sudden distraction occurred. It was by something dark, swiftly moving away from the door. It happened so fast that he wasn't sure if it had actually been there at all.

Christine, noticing how his gaze shifted from her to the door, turned around, desperately hoping it wasn't another agent.

Nothing. Just ice, damaged wood and emptiness. Perhaps there had been nothing at all and doctor Banner was simply fooling her. She'd probably have done the same if she were him. But maybe it _had_ been another agent, who was currently hiding, waiting for the right moment to strike. Another thing she totally would have done if she were in that position. _Gosh, Crystal, you really are becoming boring, aren't you? Guess he was right after all. If only you'd... _

No. She was so _not _going to think about that right now. No. Freaking. Way. _Fine. You'd better check the hall though. Better safe than sorry, right?_

Yeah. She probably should. Christine raised her right hand, its palm in doctor Banner's direction, a silent threat. She slowly headed for the hall, extending her left hand too, just in case there actually _was _someone hiding, waiting.

The hall was empty. Completely deserted. _Great. Either Banner's just as paranoid as you are or he's messing with you. Predictable, easy to fool, shall I list the other reasons too? I could... _

Once again, her thoughts were interrupted. Something hard, hitting her against her head.

_Pain. Darkness. _

Distant laughter. A soft, whispered _I told you so, remember?_

Then silence.

Perfect, complete silence.

**Thanks for reading :) Sorry for the cliffy, just couldn't resist it. I'll make the next chapter longer and post it next week.**

**Arianna is awesome. Never forget that.**

**xoxo**


End file.
